We have sold our toy hauler recently and had not used it since last summer so no reason for me to drive the EX much. My son, now 16 says, hey dad the truck has some new noises..

Greaaaatttttt!

I drive it to work one day (32 miles) and sure enough, sounds something like a bunch of loose items in the center console.. Never have I heard this before. I get home and empty the EX's nooks and cranny's and then drive again.. Crap, still there..

I decide to do the obligatory pop and roll... (open a beer and grab the creeper)

I start feeling around, tapping everything with a rubber mallet to see if anything provides any hints to the source.. Nothing... on my way out from under it my shoulder hits the catalytic converter and I hear what I thought was a rattle.. I begin looking to be sure all is connected and sure enough no issues, I did hit it pretty hard and I'm sure it doesn't move as much under normal driving conditions so I ruled that out..

The danged cab heat shield above the converter is attached to the floor of the ex with clips, there is a small air gap between the body and the material... The material is pretty stiff, maybe due to age, and as I tapped it with my fingers... TA DAH!!!!

For the time being I just used a few small globs of red hi temp rtv to keep the material from touching the floor..

Problem solved for now...

Anyone else experience this?

BTW, beer was really cold..

 

Well, I've been wrong before...

While the afore mentioned condition "noise" was remedied, I still have this friggen rattle/squeak on the right side of the truck mid to forward cabin...

I will look into body mounts but only because I am grabbing at straws..

Back to the drawing board

 

I don't have the noise, but have you tried more beer...?

 

I don't have a creeper, is there a method you would suggest if I start having the same issue and need to investigate it?

 

Yeah but then things get blurry.....

 

If your mid section is taller than the truck is from the ground, I cant help much..

Mine was just inside the frame rail so you may be able to just stick your head under there...

 

Nope, I can scoot under just fine. I'm more worried about cutting corners and not doing the "pop and roll" correctly

 

It takes some concentration bro..... Some guys would rather roll and then pop, less spillage I guess.

Without a creeper you may have to just pop sip/chug (depending on your attitude at the time) and then do the scoot underneath..

It may take some practice man... cheers for trying..

 

If your mid section is taller than the truck is from the ground, I cant help much..

Deno, that was just too much... Good job.

 

Are you sure its not the interior rear plastic panel? The one that is on the passenger side and the jack is behind it (not the jack door itself but the whole long panel that covers the rear inside from the back door down to the passenger side rear door).

Go to the back and push on the plastic panel anywhere along its length and see if it squeaks. Mine did and some teflon spray on the points where tab A goes into slot B fixed it.

 

As soon as my son is back from football camp I'll have him drive and see if I can get it figured out. The rear panel however wont require movement so that I can do myself..

I guess we can call this a "pop and poke"...

 

You don't even need to drive to verify that panel. Just get in the back and start pushing on the panel.

 

Ok, I got the creeper today but the wife won't let me bring it into the bedroom... now what?!? I want to try this!!!

 

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

So it's not the rear panel... I'm guessing I'll begin the search for suspension parts... again.

I haven't been gentle on this thing since replacing the front end within the last 40k so it is possible I have some worn/failing parts again..